Verdict:
You know, as ridiculous as the first Misison Impossible was, it stood with one foot in reality. Ghost Protocol acts more like a parody of itself, or of spy movies in general. The first 10 Minutes in particular gave a wrong impression of the rest of the film.
As I was watching the first scene, I thought that it was going to be revealed that we’re on a movie set and the guy running is an actor and then the scene will segue its way to the real action and the real main character. I was especially convinced of this when at the end of the scene there was a smartphone with a full-screen picture of a woman with the word “ASSASSIN” typed over it in huge font, all caps. I thought someone will yell “Cut!” any moment now and then the real spies will drive through the set because they are in a high speed chase through the city or something. But NO! The first scene was part of the movie! These were actual characters we are supposed to believe in! ………Hahahahaha! Why am I watching a Nickelodeon cartoon?!
The movie does this a number of times. Thankfully, most of the humour is intentional, though there may be just a little too much of it. One of the main characters is played by Simon Pegg who is a comedy actor, and he acts as a comedy relief character in this, but he is also very much in the foreground, taking up just as much screen time as Tom Cruise’s main character. It doesn’t hurt the movie, but it’s a different tone than the one I expect from these films.
The main premise is as unimaginative as they get. Something something nuclear weapons and a crazy bad guy. In fact, anytime any of its subplots or the main story raised their heads, any time the film tried to be emotional, it was a letdown. But who cares? It’s not important. Everything plot related is just an excuse for a particular scene and those scenes are well worth it.
Ghost Protocol is very impressive. The technology used by the spies looked neat, as you’d expect. The action and the locations where the action takes place are diverse, from Russian basements to Middle Eastern skyscrapers. Acrobatics are great and Tom Cruise looks in good shape performing them.
As is always the case with this crazy bastard, he gives it his absolute best. A cool addition to the cast is the Russian actor Andrei Mashkov, who I am really glad is still active in cinema, but the movie did not give him much to do and he could have just as easily been cut out altogether. The bad guy is a real disappointment though. There is no strong villain involved, just a guy who appears on screen every now and then, doing his evil stuff, only saying a word or two.
MI Ghost Protocol is a technically effective action movie, but the shallowness of story, a weak villain and a few corny scenes prevent it from reaching higher. If you are in it for good action and nothing else though then you won’t be disappointed.